MiR-4319 suppresses colorectal cancer progression by targeting ABTB1.

Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the highly malignant cancers with a poor prognosis. The exact mechanism of colorectal cancer progression is not completely known. Recently, microRNAs (miRNAs, miRs) were suggested to participate in the regulation of multiple cancer development, including colorectal cancer.

Methods: MiR-4319 expression in colorectal cancer patient samples was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction. MiR-4319 was knocked down in the colorectal cancer cells by siRNA transfection to study the role of miR-4319 in the cell cycle and proliferation of colorectal cancer cells.

Results: MiR-4319 expression was found to be inverse correlated with survival in colorectal cancer patients. Overexpression of miR-4319 markedly reduced the proliferation of colorectal cancer cells and altered cell cycle distribution. A further experiment showed that ABTB1 is the target gene of miR-4319. MiR-4319 was regulated by PLZF.

Conclusion: Our studies indicated that reduced expression of miR-4319 was correlated with poor prognosis in colorectal cancer patients; miR-4319 also suppressed colorectal cancer cell proliferation by targeting ABTB1. ABTB1 might become an excellent therapeutic target for colorectal cancer treatment.